My results with melted coconut oil have been just as good as if I creamed it, and since it’s much quicker and easier to melt it and whisk the ingredients together, that’s what I did.

It’s also a smaller-batch recipe, making just 16 medium-small cookies, perfect when you don’t want or need dozens of cookies laying around.

I have oodles of recipes for oatmeal cookies, but these are new favorites. They’re re soft, moist, chewy, filled with tons of texture from coconut flakes and oats, and are loaded to the max with chocolate.

To make them, whisk together melted coconut oil with sugars, egg, and cinnamon, before adding shredded coconut, oats, flour, baking soda, and chocolate chips. My kitchen stays warm enough that my coconut oil is usually in the liquid state, but if you need to melt yours, nuke a hunk in the micro until you can measure out 1/2 cup, the same way you’d measure 1/2 cup of any other oil.

You must use old-fashioned whole-rolled oats, not instant or quick cook. The later behaves more like flour because it’s finer and more broken down, and if you use quick cook, the dough will become dry and crumbly.

In most recipes, a little extra chocolate won’t hurt. Not only won’t it hurt, it’ll probably help. However, don’t exceed the amount called for. Too many chocolate chips will fall out and the slightly oily yet slightly crumbly dough won’t hold together if it’s overwhelmed with chips.

The cookies were so chocolaty that my 6 year old looked like she’d gone to the Willy Wonka factory because she was so messy from just one cookie.

The easy recipe, the chewy oats, the brown sugar-dominant dough, the sweetness from the shredded coconut, and subtle tropical flavor from the coconut oil made these disappear very quickly.

Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

There's no butter in these soft, moist, chewy cookies that have tons of texture from shredded coconut and oats, and are loaded to the max with chocolate. It's a smaller-batch recipe, making just 16 medium-small cookies. I used melted coconut oil and made the cookies without a mixer in one bowl. Use whole-rolled old-fashioned oats, not quick cook or instant. The dough must be chilled before baking so the coconut oil can resolidify, no exceptions, or you'll have oil puddles not cookies. Don't exceed the 3/4 cup chocolate chips called for because the chips will slip out and the dough won't hold together. The chewy oats, the brown sugar-dominant dough, the sweetness from the shredded coconut, the subtle tropical flavor from the coconut oil, the abundance of chocolate, and the ease of the recipe make these an automatic new favorite.

Stir in the chocolate chips. They'll have a tendency to slip out of the dough and fall to the bottom of the bowl, but keep folding them into the dough.

Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop or your hands, form 16 equal-sized mounds, about two heaping tablespoons of dough each. Gently squeeze the mounds to ensure the dough is tightly packed and the chocolate chips are well-embedded. The dough is slightly crumbly yet oily, but comes together when squeezed.

Place mounds on a large plate, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking; no exceptions. The coconut oil needs to re-solidfy in the fridge. Do not bake with warm dough because the cookies will spread and bake thinner, flatter, and you could have oil puddles.

Preheat oven to 350F, line baking sheets with Silpats, or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheets, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet). Bake about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and the tops are just beginning to set, even if undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center. The shredded coconut is prone to burning so keep a close eye on the cookies. Do not bake longer than 9 to 10 minutes for soft cookies because they firm up as they cool, and as the days pass they'll dry out quicker. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.

Store cookies airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

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164 comments

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Oh my god…cookie dough – done. It’s in the fridge…and it tastes soooo good and smells just as good. It’s like a coconut candle.

I made a huge batch (even though I haven’t even tried them yet) so that my man can take them to his family for the holidays since I can’t join (had to get surgery). I know they’ll be amazing because all of your baked goods are, so who needs to test them?

Thanks always Averie!

I am so glad you made these! I loved them! And thanks for making a huge batch, sight unseen, so to speak – or recipe untried. Thanks for trusting in my recipes enough to do that! And what a Saint you are to be baking cookies despite having to have surgery. My gosh – speedy recovery to you, Cori!!

And yes, like a coconut candle – great comparison!

I’ve made double batches twice in a week of these! They’re delicious. I had to flatten the cookies halfway through baking because they didn’t spread very much otherwise. The insides stayed too undercooked on the batch I didn’t flatten. I used unsweetened coconut (I mistakenly ordered five lbs of it a while ago and need to use it up) and thought they were plenty sweet–as did all of my guests. I also made your soft and chewy molasses cookies. They were gone in two days. My little ones said they were their favorites! Thanks for the delicious recipes,

Thanks for trying these & the Molasses Cookies, too! As for flattening, glad you have a system down that works for you. When working with melted coc oil (and the shreds, too), ingredients can vary so widely and most people complain of spreading which is harder to fix but you have an easy smoosh technique – perfect :) I have to do that a lot in San Diego b/c it’s dry & things stay domed frequently.

These are absolutely perfect! I made a batch last night and decided we need a scene batch today. I cannot wait to share with friends and family on Christmas! Even my picky child loved them! Thanks for sharing!

Glad that you loved them and are making a second batch today – two batches in two days, equals success! Even with a picky kiddo!

I don’t have any coconut oil, so I cheated and just used regular old canola. I fridged them to firm them up and did not have a problem with spreading!

They tasted great; I love the flavor combination you’ve got going here! The cinnamon doesn’t take over the way cinnamon has a habit of doing but rather quietly adds another dimension of flavor that really makes the cookie shine. ;)

I made a batch of these today and they are DELICIOUS!! Now I am ready to make a batch of dough to keep in the freezer. One question though, would you bake the dough straight from the freezer or let it thaw first?

Thanks again for the great recipes!

Glad to hear you love them! When I use frozen dough balls, I just set them on a cookie sheet while the oven preheats and after 15-20 mins, I just bake as normal. I may extend baking time by 1-2 mins if they were still rock hard going into the oven, but no need to wait for them to come all the way up to room temp before baking.

I just made these today and they are AMAZING! The texture seemed a bit strange when I was making them and I wasn’t sure how they would turn out, but I can’t stop eating them! Thank you so much for this great recipe! I ended up making the dough last night then cooking them this afternoon, and it worked perfectly. Love them and cannot believe there is no butter!

So glad you love them and yes when you remove butter from batter and use coc oil, it can sometimes be a little different in texture but it bakes up great! Glad you’re a believer!

Hi! Can’t absolutely wait to try this recipe out, they look scrumptious from the pics! I was wondering, do you think I would yield equally as delicious results by substituting the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour? If so, how much do you think would suffice?

Please don’t change a thing :) I love this recipe & wouldn’t tinker with it at all because yes, the taste, texture, everything will change if you change to w.w. flour & for these, I love them just as they are.

My experiences with baking cookies were always terrible! I’ve tried so many recipes and they never turned out to be i’ll-kill-for-that-cookie recipe. Your recipe was sooo damn good that I was actually proud of myself, I’m gonna bake another batch :)
thank you!

Since you used margarine (not coconut oil) which can be very tricky to bake with and gets runny AND you used honey (runny) and white sugar (which runs more than brown sugar), I am impressed they even held together, but they did! Try the recipe next time as written and you’re going to be super happy! :)

I’m glad you honored your choclaholic cravings and added more chips – I like the way you think :) And glad you liked the cookies and they stayed soft after cooling!

I’m gonna be honest – as I was trying desperately to get the stinkin’ chocolate chips to stay in the dough I was saying to myself, in frustration, “I don’t care HOW good these are, I’m never making these again!”

Aaaaaand then I ate one.

I’m totally making them again! But I may try doing them as a bar so I can just sprinkle the chips on top and avoid the chips-falling-out stage.

Thank you for a great recipe, I can’t wait to try out more!

I know, with the coconut oil, it makes those chips so darn slippery! You could use less next time, that would help, but they may not taste quite as good :) Or you could use like 1/2 cup less in the dough, and then with the 1/2 cup that you shorted the dough, you could press those chips onto the top of the finished dough mounds, and that may be a good little trick – plus the cookies will look prettier with all those chips staged right at the top surface. The idea of bars is good, too!

I used about 1/3 cup coconut oil, because it was all I had left. I’m terrible about reading all the directions before starting a recipe so I didn’t realize I was supposed to referigerate the dough. I didn’t have time to do that, but they seemed pretty solid so I figured I would just try a batch anyway. They turned out perfect! No oil puddles, no falling apart. Perfection. Thanks for the recipe!

Sounds like even though you didn’t chill the dough, everything worked out just fine for you! That’s great and so happy you’re finding them to be just perfect!

I made these a few days ago and they were AWESOME! pretty easy, quick, and absolutely delicious! I didn’t have shredded coconut on-hand, so I substituted the 1 cup with 0.5 cup more oats and 0.5 cup pecans. I also didn’t have enough chocolate chips on-hand, so I broke up a milk chocolate bar and threw that in with the chocolate chips I had–the chocolate chunks made the cookies look super tasty! Thanks for sharing your recipe! :)

I love your resourcefulness and they sound like they turned out great! Pecans, some milk chocolate bar crumbled in, mmmm, perfect!

These have become a STAPLE in my house! I mix up the batter and keep them ready to cook in the fridge and I sub flax seed + water for the egg…partly so we don’t blow through all of the eggs in our house (oh, we already do that between the three of us haha!) and partly so I don’t feel guilty if I need to eat one (or two) before they make it into the oven…. ;)

I love that you’re not even vegan, but you’ve adapted these to be vegan cookies, how awesome! Great info in case anyone else reading wants to keep them egg-free/vegan. Thanks for sharing!

So glad these are a staple in your house. They’re some of my fave cookies ever!

I just made the Chewy Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate chip cookie recipe, they came out so moist and yummy and were so easy to make!! I was a little skeptical because I have never made cookies with coconut oil and I did need to tweak it because I can’t have gluten so I just used GF flour and oatmeal, my daughter & mother who do not like oatmeal cookies both raved about these and said I need to make these again – so thank you for sharing, I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes!!

I’m sorry you experienced that. I just sent a message to the person who handles this for me and they’re checking into it.

Tried these cookies today but missed the part that said to put the fought in rounds before the fridge. Had to make hard dough into balls after it refrigerated. Cookies still came out great but will remember that step next time. Lol

Glad they came out great and yes that little ‘detail’ you missed….With coconut oil and how firm it gets in the fridge, yes, scoop/form balls THEN chill :) You’ll never forget that one again I bet!

I found your recipe when searching for an oatmeal scotchies recipe using coconut oil. These are amazing! I did end up swapping out the chocolate chips for butterscotch chips, leaving out the shredded coconut since I’m not a fan of the texture, and upping the flour to 1 1/3 cups. Also went the pan cookies route since I was feeling lazy (spread it into a 8×8 Pyrex dish), and they came out perfect at 350 for 22 minutes. Thanks for the keeper!

Glad you loved the recipe and sounds like you took the recipe and ran with it – baking in an 8×8 pan is always a nice option for those times when you don’t want to deal with making individual cookies :)

Dessicated is the really fine, teeny tiny coconut right? It may work, maybe not. I would just use shredded that way you know for sure it will work.

I made these cookies this week, and my boyfriend and I had to practice some serious restraint so we wouldn’t gobble them up in one sitting! He usually doesn’t like the texture of shredded coconut, but for some reason, he loved it in these. You were right about the chocolate chips–I used maybe a tablespoon or two more than called for, and they started falling out of the batter. Pressing the chips back into the chilled dough balls seemed to help a little. No matter, they were delicious, and they stayed so perfectly soft and gooey. Thinking of making these again for my father for Thanksgiving, in lieu of his all-time favorite chocolate-dipped macaroons. Will have to find a way to reduce some of the sugar, since he’s trying to watch his sugar intake. Any suggestions? Again, thanks for this gem of a recipe!

Glad you love the recipe and since it came out so perfectly for you, I personally wouldn’t alter the sugar or anything else, since sometimes tiny tweaks can have seemingly large-impact results. I would just tell your dad to use portion control…haha! They’re a treat after all so trying to do the lower sugar thing with these, well, I wouldn’t :)

i just baked a double batch… they are perfect! These are nice, fat cookies and i <3 them. thank you for the wonderful recipe

Glad they worked great for you, and that you made a double-batch :) That’s wonderful!

I have made these cookies several times.
They are delicious! I make double batches and freeze the cookie dough balls. When I am ready to bake them I pop them on a lined baking sheet and they are good to go! Delicious! Probably my favorite cookie recipe!

Glad these are your favorite cookie recipe, wow, such high praise! And great call on freezing the dough balls and then just baking on demand when you need them! That’s what I do, too!

Can walnuts be added?

Sure!

These cookies are the best! When I’m short on time, I put the tray in the freezer for an hour to solidify (instead of the fridge for 3 hrs) and then bake and they come out perfect. Thanks so much for this recipe!!

I’m so eager to try these cuz of all the good comments! I don’t have baking soda tho and I’m planning to substitute with baking powder, and I’m using fresh shredded coconut. Any comments?

DO NOT sub with baking powder!! It’s not the same, not recommended, don’t do it!!

OMG just made a batch of these and they are so delicious. I left out the coconut flakes since I didn’t have any but they were still really yum! Love the flavor and scent of the coconut oil. in these goodies Thanks so much for this recipe!

These were great. I followed the recipe exactly. I think next time I’ll use less chocolate morsels than specified. Other than that, Love them. The coconut flavor really stands out.

Thanks for trying the recipe and glad you enjoyed them!

These came out amazing as I’ve suspected :) I love the twist on the oatmeal chocolate chip with the coconut. I baked mine for 10 minutes (I think it’s my oven, I always have to do about one minute more with baking). And I already scarfed down 2 .. the first one kind of still warm and the second one when it really set. Hopefully the rest of the batch will survive before my bf comes

Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and I hope your bf gets to sample one :)

Hi, stumbled here after googling chocolate chip, coconut, oatmeal cookie. I didn’t have enough chips to do my regular cookies and was looking for something that I could use. I wanted the cookies NOW so refrigerating for 3 hours was not part of my plan. As such I adapted your recipe. I used butter instead of coconut oil, had quick cooking GF oats on hand so used that, used GF flour and reduced the sugar to about 75% (personal preference). The result is wonderful. Cookie stayed together and looks a lot like your pic but with less chocolate. I will try the recipe again with the coconut oil, when the craving for something sweet isn’t so strong :) Thanks!!

Could I use coconut milk instead of coconut oil? Is there a difference? Maybe this is obvious but I’m just wondering…Thanks!

Yes there is a HUGE difference and the two are not interchangeable. Use coconut oil for this recipe.

Every time I make these cookies, someone asks me for the recipe. They are “THE” cookie – as in, everyone in my house asks, “Are those THE cookies???” when they see me baking.
I add about a tablespoon each of flax seed and chia seed. The chia gives them a slightly nutty flavor, which is great because I hate nuts in my cookies.
I found that baking them at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the edges just start to brown, works best. At 350, they don’t always fully melt down, and I’m left with a cookie slightly undercooked in the middle.

Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it’s THE go-to cookie in your house! The flax and chia probably add a nice twist!

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Hi, I'm Averie and I'm so glad you've found my site! You'll find fast and easy recipes from dinners to desserts that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!